MS Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences (MSRUAS) will be building a student satellite ‘Ramaiah Sat' in parallel with ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence. MSRUAS under the Gokula Educational Foundation (Medicine) on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Technology Congress Association (ITCA) to develop and build a nanosatellite to be launched in August 2022. The 300-gram satellite was built at a cost of Rs 10 lakh under the supervision of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and with the help of ITCA, the nodal agency for the 75-student satellite mission.
MSRUAS Vice Chancellor Prof Kuldeep K Raina and ITCA Chairman LV Muralikrishna Reddy signed the agreement in the presence of Principal MR Jayaram and CEO MR Sreenivasa Murthy among others.
According to Professor Raina, this is an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of MSRUAS in space technology.
“Ramaiah Sat is a 1.6-kilogram satellite with a 300-gram Internet of Things (IoT) payload to monitor other satellites,” the MSRUAS statement said.
ISRO will launch satellites via UHF and VHF links with the satellite ground station of MSRUAS Penha Campus.
“The satellite's mission functional attributes are water quality monitoring, wireless communication network for remote areas, passive radar for weather monitoring and SOS for fishermen,” it said.
Earlier this month, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that since Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently “unlocked” India's space sector, some 60 startups have registered with ISRO, with quite a few of them. A portion is dealing with projects related to space debris management. Proposals from other startups vary, including nanosatellites, launch vehicles, ground systems, research, and more.
After launching the ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable operations (IS4OM) at the ISRO Control Center in Bengaluru, the minister reiterated that the enthusiasm of private sector and innovative start-ups will enhance the role of the Ministry of Space in protection of India through the development of space transport, debris management, infrastructure and the full range of capabilities in the application domain to realize the benefits of space.
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